It can be desirable to pay for items ordered online using a cellular telephone account. The account may be either a prepaid account, in which money is deposited in the account prior to purchasing goods or services with that account, or a postpaid account, in which credit is extended to the account holder for goods and services, usually to be paid by the end of the month.
Conventional solutions involve the user using a cell phone to dial a number or sending an SMS text message to a short code (a shorter string of digits with which an SMS text message may be addressed), which then is charged against the user's cellular telephone account using conventional methods. The number or short code corresponds to a fixed amount that will be charged to the user's cellular telephone account, similar to a 976 call.
Although this arrangement can be used for purchasing discrete products such as a soda from a vending machine, it does not provide the level of flexibility to use for purchasing from online merchants selling different-priced goods or services. It would be possible to use multiples of each of several possible amounts by dialing the various combinations of messages or sending the various combinations of SMS text messages to reach a desired amount, but such operation is cumbersome, and SMS messages are not fully reliable, making this arrangement more difficult to use.
What is needed is a system and method that can charge a flexible amount to a user's prepaid or postpaid cellular telephone account, such as when ordering goods or services from an online merchant.